Some sculptors work with their material in the same way that others write poetry. This is certainly true of Julien Allegre, whose slender, unadorned metal figures seem to emerge from another era. His ‘Fossil Men’ are both archaic and resolutely contemporary: faceless figures, standing tall like sentinels.
A self-taught sculptor, born in Arles
Born in 1980 in Arles, Julien Allegre lives and works in Provence. He had originally intended to pursue a career in mechanics, but music and fateful encounters with other artists led him towards sculpture. A self-taught artist and musician, he exhibits in France and across Europe, and his works feature in numerous private collections and foundations.
A trip to Senegal had a profound effect on him: there, he discovered the art of recycling, which still shapes the way he views materials.
Metal: a living material
For over ten years, Julien Allegre has been developing a body of work centred on metal, which he regards as a living, reactive material. He usually finds it in a used state, in the form of objects or as scrap. He cuts, hammers, welds and engraves it until he frees it from its original function and gives it, as he puts it, ‘a living quality’.
The material takes on a rough texture, worked in layers, and the range of rust-coloured tones is, to him, a form of poetry. The overlapping lines evoke the rise of sap in spring, and the ends of the pieces resemble bursting branches calling forth their foliage.
Corten steel, antique bronze, copper and polished stainless steel
Over the years, the artist has broadened his palette. Alongside raw metal and Corten steel, he works with bronze, which he himself refers to as ‘antique bronze’, copper and polished stainless steel. These contrasting materials interact in his sculptures: warm rust and luminous reflections, the raw and the precious, the archaic and the contemporary.
‘Fossil Men’: skeletons made of twigs
These slender figures are devoid of colour and heads. Reduced to their role as observers, they resemble fantastical skeletons of branches, where time has left only the essentials to bear witness. Julien Allegre sees them as ‘guardians of a bygone era’ and ‘sentinels of the present’.
Expressing his admiration for nature seemed only natural to him. Set against a natural backdrop, these sculptures appear to engage in a dialogue with him. They act as guardians of nature, which they staunchly defend against the harmful actions of humankind.
Monumental sculptures
Several large-scale works are on display in our gallery:
An approach that challenges our relationship with living things
Behind the raw aesthetic lies a powerful message. Reusing discarded materials to create evocative figures is a way of giving the material a new lease of life. The dialogue between the old and the contemporary, between the utilitarian object and the work of art, lies at the heart of his artistic exploration. More recently, he has extended this work through abstract engravings, his ‘Empreintes’, created using filter plates.
Why collect a sculpture by Julien Allegre?
Conclusion
With his ‘Fossil Men’, Julien Allegre presents a sculpture that captures the passage of time: understated, powerful and evocative. An invitation to look at nature – and our own impact on it – in a different light.
The sculptures of Julien ALLEGRE
